[time-nuts] Used Hydrogen Maser

[Azelio Boriani]

Tom Van Baak said on Aug 29, 2013:

>The pursuit of precision tends to be exponential rather than linear.
...
>As a rough example in the ADEV world:
>- for 1e-11, you can buy almost any XO, TCXO, or risky OCXO for $10.
>- for 1e-12, you can find a reputable OCXO on eBay for under $100.
>- for 1e-13, you can find an old but maybe working cesium clock for 1 k$.
>- for 1e-14, spend 10 k$ and get a certified working hp 5071A.
>- for 1e-15, spend 100 k$ and find a used active H-maser.
>- for 1e-16, spend 1 M$ to hire physicists and build a Cs fountain.
>- for 1e-17, spend 10 M$ to fund a national research institute to build ion or
>optical clocks.


Add the 1k USD running cost per year just to keep the active maser running.
I think that chances of finding an active H-maser used are near 0.
Better to stick with GPSDOs: they bring into your home the stability
and accuracy of the USNO UTC (well, close to...).

On Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 2:00 PM Perry Sandeen via time-nuts
<time-nuts at lists.febo.com> wrote:
>
> Yo Bubba Dudes!,
> OK, I'll finally ask the question that probably a lot of list members wanted to know but were reticent to ask.
> First, what is the price of one of a new Hydrogen Maser? (This is important if I win the lottery.)
> Second, what would be prices for used Hydrogen Maser in *reasonable* working condition and what might be the long term costs to keep it running?
> Thirdly, what are the chances of finding a used one?
> Then again, might it be better, money wise just to limp along with used HP Cs?
> Regards,
> Perrier
>
>
>
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